Katherine Harris

Senior Writer

The men’s baseball team put up a strong effort as it faced off against Duke last weekend for a three-game series, improving each game even though they did not come out with a victory.

“As a whole, we are obviously disappointed with the losses, yet there are many positives to take away. We were a few plays away from winning games two and three, and against a quality team like Duke, that is somewhat respectable,” pitcher Dan Weigel ’14 said.

The Bison had a rough start to the weekend on Feb. 22 when they faced off against the Blue Devils, ending the game with a 9-0 loss. The only two hits on the day for the Orange and Blue came from Matt Busch ’13 and Luke Lombardi ’14. Bryson Hough ’15 started on the mound and allowed only three hits in over five innings, but his five walks dug a hole the Bison could not overcome.

The Orange and Blue came back strong, pushing Duke before losing 2-0 on a walk-off home run on Feb. 23. Weigel led the Bison on the day, tallying five strikeouts and allowing just two hits and no runs in over eight innings. The team continued to struggle on offense, with second baseman Greg Wasikowski ’15 recording the only hit for the Bison on the day.

The Orange and Blue bounced back on offense on Feb. 24, recording six hits and getting on the board in the 4-1 loss. Center fielder Corey Furman ’14 led the way with two singles on the day, while pitcher Dan Goldstein ’13 had an impressive performance on the mound, recording eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings.

“As we move towards next weekend against Harvard and Virginia we are not looking for mere respectability but rather to win the series,” Weigel said. “We proved this weekend that we can play with ACC schools, now we just need to keep getting better to be able to make that next step of beating them.”

This weekend, the Bison will travel to Charlottesville, Va. to play two games against Virginia and two versus Harvard.